Deep Brain Stimulation of Nucleus Accumbens with Anterior Capsulotomy for Drug Addiction: A Case Report
STEREOTACTIC AND FUNCTIONAL NEUROSURGERY
Authors: Zhu, Rui; Zhang, Yingying; Wang, Tao; Wei, Hongjiang; Zhang, Chencheng; Li, Dianyou; Zhan, Shikun; Sun, Bomin
Abstract
Background:Drug addiction is one of the most prevalent and costly health problems worldwide. Over the past decade, deep brain stimulation (DBS) has increasingly been used for the treatment of drug addiction. Simultaneous DBS of nucleus accumbens (NAc) and the anterior limb of the internal capsule (ALIC) has successfully been used for preventing heroin relapse. However, the excessive energy consumption speeds up battery depletion, which puts a burden on patients. By comparison, anterior capsulotomy is usually more convenient for patients and its clinical efficacy is similar to that of ALIC DBS. Accordingly, NAc DBS combined with anterior capsulotomy may also be an effective, yet more convenient, intervention for drug addiction and relapse prevention.Case Description:The patient was a 28-year-old man with a polysubstance use disorder (bucinnazine, morphine, and hypnotics) for 13 years. After bilateral NAc DBS combined with bilateral anterior capsulotomy, his craving for the three drugs decreased markedly, and he remained abstinent throughout the follow-up period of approximately 1-year. Moreover, psychiatric and neuropsychological assessments showed significant improvements in depression, anxiety, sleep, quality of life, and most aspects of cognitive functioning. His overall health status was also improved.Conclusions:NAc DBS combined with anterior capsulotomy is a promising surgical treatment for drug addiction.
Impact of a multidisciplinary multimodal opioid minimization initiative in kidney transplant recipients
CLINICAL TRANSPLANTATION
Authors: Rohan, Vinayak S.; Taber, David J.; Patel, Neha; Perez, Caroline; Pilch, Nicole; Parks, Sara; Bolin, Eric; Nadig, Satish N.; Baliga, Prabhakar K.; Fleming, James N.
Abstract
Opioid use after kidney transplant has been shown to be a risk factor for chronic opioid use, which leads to an increased risk of mortality. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the early impact of a multimodal pain regimen and education quality improvement program on opioid use after kidney transplant 2 months after implementation. This was a retrospective, single-center analysis of post-operative opioid use, comparing the average daily Morphine milligram equivalents (MME) of the patients who received education on opioids and a multimodal pain regimen (preoperative TAP/QL block, scheduled APAP and gabapentin) compared to a historical control group. Despite having no differences in pre-transplant opioid exposure, daily and overall inpatient opioid utilization was significantly reduced in the multimodal pain protocol cohort (38.6 vs 8.0 MME/day;P < .001); 5% of patients in the multimodal pain protocol cohort were discharged with an opioid prescription, compared to 96% of controls (P < .001). Our early results demonstrate that a multimodal pain protocol can effectively and dramatically reduce short-term opioid utilization in kidney transplant recipients.